Libs-Nats have ‘cut and shut’ regional rail

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Minister: It's hard to trust the Liberals and Nationals rail announcement, going by the history books.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

IT’S hard to trust the Liberals and Nationals rail announcement, going by the history books.

They have no credibility when it comes to regional rail.

All they’ve done is cut and shut.

When last in government they didn’t order a single new carriage for two years, didn’t start a rail project anywhere and ripped $120 million out of V/Line — and it was a Liberal-National government that shut regional rail lines.

We’ve stopped the cuts, restored the funding to V/Line, ordered 87 new regional carriages and already begun the design work needed to run VLocity carriages on long haul lines.

We’ve added 600 services to the regional network and additional VLocity carriages to services that need it most.

These carriages, built in Victoria, reduce crowding on the busiest services and allow more trains to run more often, and we’ve invested in the design work necessary to replace the classic feet with modern trains.

If the Coalition wants to do something useful for V/Line users, it should pick up the phone to Malcolm Turnbull and tell him to release the money he has promised for Regional Rail Revival so we can get on with upgrading every regional line, and run modern trains across the state.